[Scan-DC] Autolocation

[Andrew Clegg]

Regarding autolocate -- just as a data point, today I flew from DC to
Boulder, CO. I took my Home Patrol with me. When I got to my hotel room, I
turned in on, and did an autolocate to see what would happen. I had not
turned it on since leaving home in Arlington. In about 20 seconds, it
determined its location was Boulder CO. Pretty impressive, in this case.

-----Original Message-----
From: scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Jeff Krauss
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 7:51 PM
To: scan-dc at mailman.qth.net; scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Scan-DC] Autolocation


You might recall that Google recently got into trouble for using an
RF vacuum cleaner to absorb all the WiFi signals as they drove their
mobile receivers on streets throughout the world and recorded the
location of every WiFi access point they encountered.  The problem
was they recorded content as well as SSIDs and other data identifying
each access point.  Simply an enhancement of Google Earth.
But its not a new idea.  When the FCC was first considering  E911
location technologies, one proposal claimed to be able to satisfy the
FCC's location requirements by comparing received signal strengths of
broadcast FM and TV stations against a database of predicted signal
strengths.


>------------------------------
>
>Message: 3
>Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 18:45:53 -0500
>From: "Andrew Clegg" <aclegg at nsf.gov>
>Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] Fw:  Pro 106 and DC Fire
>To: <cohenner at gmail.com>, <scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net>,
>         <cliffj at cox.net>,       <scan-dc at mailman.qth.net>
>Message-ID: <C5AAF22B692C46EF9072AD4B9C03788F at W4JEHOME>
>Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
>         reply-type=original
>
>
>
>3) Autolocate. The HP has some kind of proprietary algorithm that will
sniff
>out the local pattern of control channels, weather stations, etc. (I'm
>guessing), and come up with a decent guess about where it's at. I have
tried
>this in a variety of areas, and I can tell you that it works about half the
>time, which frankly is pretty amazing. It takes anywhere from about 30
>seconds to a few minutes to complete the autolocate.  My experience is that
>the longer it takes, the less likely it is to be successful.

______________________________________________________________
Scan-DC mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/scan-dc
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html